Under date of February 5th, 1897, therefore, an elaborate statement and earnest appeal appeared in the London _Times_ and other great papers signed by the Prince of Wales, and asking for organized help in making up the existing deficits of £100,000 in London hospitals. The Royal writer pointed out that the efforts of individual institutions, praiseworthy as they had been, failed to obtain more than a small number of subscriptions from the great population of the metropolis; that the reasons for this was partly the difficulty of choosing amongst so many useful charities, partly the lack of definite opportunity for giving annual subscriptions to the cause as a whole, partly a feeling that small sums were not worth contributing; that it was proposed to establish this "Prince of Wales Hospital Fund" in order to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Queen's reign by obtaining permanent annual subscriptions of from £100,000 to £150,000. He also announced that Lord Rothschild had accepted the post of Treasurer, that a commencement in subscriptions had been made, and that the Lord Mayor had promised his active assistance. The success of the movement thus inaugurated by the Heir Apparent was pronounced. The annual Report of the Council of the Fund, which was issued on May 2nd, 1899, stated that during the past two years £89,000 had been distributed, and that the hospitals had been enabled to re-open and maintain two hundred and forty-two beds. It had, however, not come up yet to the requirements and, on March 1st, of this year, the Prince made another effort to help the hospitals. He called a large and representative meeting at Marlborough House, and placed before it a plan for the establishment of an Order to be called the League of Mercy. Its object would be to reach locally persons who did not subscribe to minor Funds, or individual institutions, and to do this by offering an honour in the form of this decoration, "as a reward for gratuitous personal services rendered in the relief of sickness, suffering, poverty or distress." These services would be apart, altogether, from gifts of money, (although the latter would be gladly accepted) and must be continued during five years. The Queen was to be head of the Order and the Heir Apparent its Grand President. All names were to be submitted to Her Majesty and the honour itself was not to confer any rank, dignity or social precedence. The plan was approved, and its success marked despite some caustic and unjust criticisms in certain Radical papers. On December 1st (1899), following, the annual meeting of the Hospital Fund was held at Marlborough House, with His Royal Highness in the chair, and attended by Lord Rowton, Lord Iveagh, Cardinal Vaughan, Lord Lister, Lord Reay, the Chief Rabbi and others. Lord Rothschild submitted a statement which showed the year's receipts to be £47,000, the first distribution from the League of Mercy to be £1,000, and the total amount of the Fund to be £217,000.